SEOUL--While the producers of "Parasite" celebrated four Academy Awards on Feb. 9, tenants residing in gloomy half-basement apartments here like in the movie did not share in their glee.

“The air is damp, and I don't like living here,” said Song Sung-geun, an 82-year-old pensioner, who occupies half an underground apartment in the Samseog-dong area of the Gwanak district in southern Seoul. “I just cannot afford a better place."

Against the backdrop of some of the world's richest global brands such as Samsung and Hyundai, exist hundreds of thousands of these dimly lit, below-ground apartments.

"Parasite" shines a light on a destitute family living in a semi-underground apartment and their attempt to escape from their impoverished lives by being parasitic and attempting to latch onto a wealthy family. 

The black comedy film, directed by Bong Joon-ho, won best picture, the first foreign language film to do so in the nearly century-long history of the Academy Awards. It also captured Oscars for best director, best original screenplay and best international feature film.

The best picture Oscar followed the Palme d’Or it won at the Cannes Film Festival in May. 

The movie also portrays a host of social malaises plaguing South Korean society, including economic inequality between the haves and have-nots, discrimination based on people's occupations and the cut-throat competition to get into a university.

Since its release, the film has drawn huge audiences totaling about 10 million in South Korea. It is also a big hit in Japan.

But for residents of Seoul such as Song, he is forced to live the daily reality of what is shown on the big screen.

His unit is situated on the first level of a three-story apartment building at the bottom of a hill where a high-rise apartment building is located.

Song has lived in the 30-square-meter half-basement apartment with no bath for about 30 years. The lower parts of the apartment's windows are at ground level. It is dim inside even during the day with little sunlight streaming in.

Song said when he was employed as a day laborer, he could make 2 million won a month (about 180,000 yen, or $1,636) during busy times.

But a social security benefit of 150,000 won is all he receives each month today to make ends meet.

He and his five children, who live separately from him, struggle to come up with about 3 million won a month to cover treatments for his wife, who is hospitalized.

The only time Song said he finds pleasure when he visits a sauna and goes outside to “get some air.”

According to a real estate dealer in the neighborhood, there are about 1,000 households living in the Samseog-dong area of the Gwanak district. Of these, some 200 households live in semi-basement apartments or dilapidated housing. Many of the occupants are elderly or unemployed singles.

In South Korea, a system exists in which occupants of rental housing pay a lump sum as a “guarantee deposit” to their landlords, rather than monthly rent. That way, landlords make a profit by managing those funds over time. Occupants have all their guarantee deposit refunded when they move out of their units.

Song paid 30 million won as a guarantee deposit when he moved into his semi-underground apartment.

A simple comparison is impossible, but it was a bargain, given that an approximately 200 million won price tag was asked for a unit in a high-rise apartment building nearby.

Data from South Korea’s National Statistics Office showed that the number of households residing in basement or half-underground apartments stood at 360,000 nationwide, about 2 percent of the total, in 2015.

The ratio jumps to about 6 percent of overall households in Seoul, representing 220,000.

Kim Young-nam, 61, a welfare worker, lives in a semi-basement apartment in the Mapo district in central Seoul, where “Parasite” was set.

She and her family moved into their humble abode about 15 years ago, when the guarantee deposit for the 25-square-meter apartment was 130 million won.

Kim managed to save up the money by juggling two jobs as a hairdresser and a nurse.

She is the breadwinner of the family as her 58-year-old husband cannot work due to poor health.

“We may not be the poorest, but I am sure that semi-basement apartments are a symbol of poverty,” she said.

Half-underground apartments first surfaced in South Korea amid the nation's strained relations with North Korea.

After Pyongyang’s failed attempt to attack South Korea’s presidential office in 1968, Seoul undertook sweeping infrastructure projects in the 1970s to prepare for possible all-out war with North Korea, including construction of air raid shelters.

In preparation for a conflict, homes came to be equipped with basement rooms.

After South Korea’s economy rapidly expanded through the 1980s, a shortage of housing became a serious issue for residents in urban areas.

To ease the dearth of accommodations, the government authorized the leasing of underground spaces, according to South Korean media reports.

Since then, low-income families have opted for below-ground housing due to the cheaper rents.

In recent years, however, semi-underground spaces have become popular among students and young people. Some have been converted into cafes or shops in areas popular with tourists due to less-expensive rents and their quirky settings.

“Still, the existence of half-basement apartments are a reflection of disparity in South Korean society, echoing the shared problem in the global community,” said Chiharu Izumi, professor of Korean culture at Seokyeong University in Seoul, and a Japanese citizen who has lived in South Korea since 35 years ago.